Reuben Small Jr. (left) and his wife, Gloria Small, sit at their home in Natchitoches Thursday. Reuben recently suffered a major heart attack and is lucky to be alive.

Written by

Jeff Matthews
jmatthews@thetowntalk.com

Reuben Small Jr. doesn't remember anything about the heart attack that nearly killed him. But he's heard enough about it to know how fortunate he is.

Small lived for nine hours in a low-function state before he was given a rapid cooling procedure designed to preserve brain and heart function. As far as doctors have been able to tell, it's the longest a patient has gone without cooling where the treatment still had the desired effect.

By all rights Small, if he lived, should have come back with diminished capabilities. But he feels better than ever. ...